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Sunday, August 06, 2017

Sport Sunday Rants

Sport Sunday:

August is August. The Doldrums.
Pro Soccer will star up in Europe later this month, Track and Field
Championships are in their preliminaries.
We here hope you are enjoying the beach and/or pool, or for those in the
Southern hemisphere, mebbe a ski trip.

Aussie Rules Football today features an arch rivalry, like no other, Adelaide
v Port Adelaide at, where else, the Adelaide Oval. South Australia's
most important game on the footy calendar takes on extra significance for two
of the premiership contenders. The
Adelaide Crows currently are in 1st place in the standings, and the Port
Adelaide Power at 5th place. The 43rd edition of the Showdown promises to
be a beauty, with the Crows and the Power coming off amazing results last
weekend. The Crows showed tremendous fight to rally from 50 points down early
in the third quarter to secure a draw against Collingwood at the Melbourne
Cricket Grounds, while a bit of Patrick Ryder and Robbie Gray brilliance
delivered the Power a thrilling two-point win over St Kilda.

The
top-of-the-table Crows will be slight favourites to win their fifth straight
Showdown, they have certainly dominated the series in recent years. The fifth-placed Power need a victory to keep
their founded hopes of finishing in the top four alive. This will be a contest
between two of the top three scoring teams in the competition. The Crows are
ranked first with 111 points per game, while the Power are third with 99. But
the Power are the best defensive team in the League, conceding just 76 points
per game, while the Crows are fourth (81).
This promises to be a very close game, too close to call.

Spanish
soccer has been thrown into some chaos this weekend, with top players moving
out of the country, or threatening to do so.
Former top Barcelona player and Brazilian
forward Neymar Jr received a hero's welcome from Paris Saint-Germain fans at
their Parc des Princes home on Saturday as he vowed to win "lots of
trophies" following his world record transfer. Neymar, 25, was presented to fans on the
pitch ahead of their opening Ligue 1 match of the season at home to Amiens,
telling fans: "Thank you! I'm very happy, I'm delighted to be here for
this new challenge." The Brazilian,
who cost a world record €222 million in the contract which precipitated his
transfer, then delighted fans by running over to the end where PSG's most
hardcore supporters converge and launched his jersey into the throng of
delirious 'Ultras'.

Meanwhile, Coach Zinedine
Zidane of Real Madrid appears to want to pour kerosene on the flames of his
team's self destruction. Coach Zidane
essentially called for the transfer of top player Gareth Bale, well known to
readers of this space, and a popular player among fans. The peaceful Welshman
is not given to egotistical rants, which apparently makes him unsuitable to
French Zidane. Real Madrid has done
nothing, apparently, to calm their temperamental but magisterial player
Cristiano Ronaldo, who again is saying he wants to move back to England. Ronaldo has scored more than 400 goals for
Primera Liga champions Real since arriving in 2009 and he won three Premier
League titles and the Uefa Champions League with Manchester United. He has become so miserable under the
persecution and prosecution of a judge who represents an overreaching and money
grubbing legal system (well known for its maverick judges who try to make names
for themselves by prosecuting stars, athletes, cyclists, politicians).

Neglected as he has been by his team
administration, Ronaldo is ready to move out of this Iberian country. While early on he said he wanted a return to Manchester
United, now he is so frustrated, it seems anywhere in "England" will
do. Hard to see a country's soccer
expertise self destruct.

Meanwhile,
Rafael Nadal is poised to return to the number one ranking in worldwide men's
tennis. Andy Murray has suffered from
injuries, and is at the point of losing his top spot. Also, Men's Shot put finals today in the
International Track and Field Championships in London.